


Asterion

by Lucien_Ephrem



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology
Genre: Angst, Asterion is a sweetheart, Bigotry & Prejudice, Child Abuse, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Minos is a dick, Mother-Son Relationship, Pasiphae is a good mother, Past Rape/Non-con, idk what i'm doing with the tags, it's a metaphor, the Minotaur isn't a literal half bull half human being
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-09 07:18:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18633430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucien_Ephrem/pseuds/Lucien_Ephrem
Summary: An inhuman wail resounded in the hall of the hospital. Quiet gasps and murmurs followed closely after. Pasiphae had just given birth. In the otherwise silent building, the echoing of her baby’s cries left her with an ominous feeling. What was going to advene of her? And more importantly what were they going to do to her child?Or how Asterion became the blood thirsty creature we all know.





	Asterion

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this written for nearly a year and i think it's time I posted it somewhere. So yeah here it is, a kinda modern retelling of the myth of the minotaur and why he became a monster. This is highly metaphoric and it's really just me reflecting on the cruelty of men.  
> Also English is not my first language!  
> The banner was made by yours truly :)

 

 

 

*

 

It was like the calm before the storm. Then came the pain, like a tidal wave of hurt cutting through her body, like an angry fire eating away at her insides. She wouldn’t have been able to guess how long it lasted. And as quickly as it arrived, it departed, leaving only relief. An amazing feeling of contentment and peace washed over her when they put her baby in her arms. She chose not to see their glances, the judgment in their eyes. All that mattered was Asterion who was currently happily gurgling, suckling on her breast, unaware. In her exhausted state she didn’t register when the nurses took the baby away from her to put him in his crib. As her last effort before losing consciousness she turned her eyes to her son and Pasiphaë slowly drifted to sleep to the reassuring sound of his snores.

Then it was the middle of the night. Awaking with the harsh reflection of the light across her face and the sense that something was deeply wrong—the buzzing sound of the a/c cooling her room, the tick-tock of her watch. But there was something. Something she couldn't quite place yet it filled her with an irrational sense of dread that sent her sitting bolt upright in her bed. There. Through a crack in the door, a ray of light filtered in from the hallway and she could hear soft, undecipherable whispering. One of the voices sounded familiar, though. As the door creaked open she laid back on her bed, feigning sleep. In the dim light, through her eyelashes, she saw a male form bending over Asterion’s crib.

“What are you doing?” she asked, the cutting steel edge in her voice surprising even to her own ears.

The man turned to her with a start.

“Pasiphaë, love, I thought you were sleeping...” he tried to appease her.

“I won’t repeat myself. What are you doing?” she coldly articulated.

“Don’t worry, go back to sleep. When you wake up this will all be like a bad memory.”

“What is the meaning of this? Surely you’re not implying what I think you are.” she said, outrage slipping in her tone.  
“Yes. Of course I am. You can’t be meaning to keep this… This creature!” he hissed.

She reared as if slapped. Their eyes met, both of their mouths twisted in an angry snarl.

“God help me Minos if you try to take my son away from me you…”

“You call this your son? What is so special about him anyway?” he interrupted her. “Look at this freak, look at his face.” He roughly grabbed her head between his fingers, forcefully turning her gaze toward Asterion. “How can you love this beast? He’s barely been breathing for a few hours and you seem to love him more than your other children. I have never seen you put this much of a fight for them!”

“Well you never tried to take them away from me did you?” She snarled, grabbing his wrist.

“Because they were mine!” He suddenly shouted, his chest heaving with fury. He violently let go of her face, the force behind the movement made her body collapse onto the mattress. Pasiphaë was about to answer when soft cries attracted her attention. She stood up, careful not to lose sight of her husband, and gathered her baby in her arms, cooing at him. A subtle movement in the dark caught her eyes.

“Don’t you dare try anything you bastard.” In this short lapse of time, Minos had been carefully trying to take something from his pocket, presumably his phone to call back ups. Their eyes met. Pasiphaë started speaking anew. “Now you are going to leave this room. If in the morning I see that Asterion is not here, I will burn these halls. I don’t care if you’re the king of this city, I will burn it to the ground, you hear me?” She threatened. And though she seemed powerless—curled up in a bed, just having given birth—the fire of her glare stopped Minos in his tracks.

“So the little beast’s got a name?” He said, with malicious intent in his eye.

“He is no beast. He is my son.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying. You’ve clearly lost your mind.”

“Leave!” she interrupted him. “Leave this instant.”

“I will leave. For now. But don’t think for a second this is over.”

All the noise had awoken Asterion again and as he was letting distressed noises out she hugged him to her chest, painful sobs leaving her throat. There would be no more peace. Exhausted, she let herself fall into a restless sleep.

 

Hands. There were hands everywhere, choking her, pulling her hair, trying to latch onto something. She was trying to scream, cry for help, her arms secured around the infant she was carrying. But it was impossible. She could only stare wide eyed as faceless strangers grabbed her baby, ripping her very flesh away from her. Her lungs were burning, her whole body was shaking with exhaustion, not answering to her anymore. But still she was trying. Minos was right. She wasn’t supposed to feel that much about the offspring of a monster. But she was weak, and as much as Asterion was his son, he was hers too, and she couldn’t help but love him as fiercely as her other kids. With a last deafening scream leaving her throat, her eyes opened. She was safe. Asterion was safe. Well as safe as they could be, trapped in that place. The white sheets of her bed were soaked with sweat, her hospital gown stuck to her trembling frame. She couldn’t shake off the sheer despair that her nightmare had invoked in her. Having made a decision, Pasiphaë grabbed her few belongings and put them in her travel bag, she then approached the crib to take her baby in her arms careful not to wake him up.

The new mother then opened the door, looked left and right and was about to take her chances and go when she was brutally stopped in her run. It turned out Minos had installed guards at her door during the night, guards who were currently blocking the way to her freedom. She recognized them actually, they were part of the people who accompanied her husband on his official outings, for his security. She wondered how they felt, being tasked to keep an eye on her and her monstrous progeny. Did they think, too, that she was insane, that her son was a monster? Was it what Minos had told everyone? Would she from now on be known as the mother of the freak? She had to leave right now! Before he had the time to turn everyone on her. She started to panic, her breathing was getting shallow and she was sweating profusely, her eyes darting in every directions. Pasiphaë began to trash as she felt fingers closing around her wrists, hands on her shoulders. Through the cacophony of her thoughts she heard a gentle voice, one that she knew, the voice of someone she loved. Ariadne.

“Calm down mother, let us go inside.” she said, a soothing tone to her voice “Inhale. Yes, good. Now exhale. Good, good. Do you hear me? It’s Ariadne, your daughter.”

“Stop this non-sense, she’s not a kid for goodness sake!” a harsher voice said.

“Shut up Deucalion, you idiot, can’t you see she’s having a panic attack?”

 

They ushered her back into the room, closing the door behind them. Ariadne carefully took Asterion in her arms and waited for her mother to slowly recover her wits. Deucalion pulled the curtains open then sat down in the armchair near the window; he was looking outside as if what was going on in the room held no interest. Bit by bit Pasiphaë calmed down. She took in her surroundings, her gaze settled on her children, on Ariadne who looked so scared holding her little brother—she was trying her best not to show it, but a mother knows this kind of things. And on Deucalion, her dear eldest who now was stubbornly avoiding her eyes.

 

 

**

 

 

It had been three years since that fateful day. Three years during which she had not been authorized to leave the palace’s enclosure. Three years being dutifully watched by guards and looked down on by servants. It was also the birthday of her bright, beautiful son whose laugh often echoed in the white deserted hallways despite everything—the joy of an infant is not easy to smother after all. She tried her best to not be miserable, especially on this day. She had to be strong for the sake of Asterion. While a prisoner, she was still Minos’ wife and so the servants still had to answer to her. Even though it was hard to ignore their whispers and the contempt they had for her, she pretended not to hear it, not to see it. For the sake of Asterion.

Pasiphaë had charged her maid with the task of preparing her son’s birthday. Nothing much _,_ just a cake and a few toys she could give to him. Ariadne would be arriving soon to help her prepare for the day. She had also promised to buy her little brother whatever he wanted, taking her duties as a sister very seriously. Deucalion would not be coming. He was rarely seen in the palace anymore since he left the city to go to a prestigious university—Ariadne had told her that, Pasiphaë had not seen him since the day he came visiting her at the hospital after Asterion’s birth. They had had a falling out concerning her youngest child and he had since then refused to see her. Her other children were kept away by Minos. Maybe he thought they would catch Asterion’s freakishness if he let them close enough to him. He was after all the one who had the last say in everything that went on inside and outside of the palace. He was the reason Asterion had never seen the outside world. Her son was still young enough that it had not been a problem for the moment, but he was bound to realize at some point that there was more to see than his golden cage. But today she would not think about this. Today she would smile and celebrate her youngest, as he deserved to be celebrated.

The clock chimed, announcing the time. 9 o’clock. She stood up and went to Asterion’s room to wake him up. She announced herself with a soft knock on the door then opened it. She was surprised to see the sunlight bathing the room in its golden light. Usually she was the first one to come in here, and opening the curtains was her unspoken duty. It seemed the birthday boy had been quite impatient.

“Mommy!” Asterion shouted out, a beaming smile on his face as he came lounging at her. Pasiphaë intercepted him in her open arms, laughing at her son’s antics.

“You’re already up? What a big boy! Is today a special day?”

“Yes!” he laughed

“It is yes. It’s your birthday isn’t it? How old are you love?”she asked. The little boy just held up three of his fingers to show his age. “Yes, three, good!”

“Mommy, up!” Asterion said, wriggling in her embrace.

“What is it? You want to go to the window?” she wondered aloud. He was still quite young so she sometimes had trouble understanding what he wanted. Seeing him nod his head with trepidation she approached the tall window, with him in her arms.

“Look.” he said, pointing his finger at the sky. There were a few seagulls lazily flying over the gardenwall, a few others were perched on it. Pasiphaë kept on looking at them, mindlessly agreeing with whatever her son was babbling about. Their flight seemed to be a ballet in the airs, their wings gracefully carrying them wherever their mind was set on. It seemed so foreign to her. She felt foolish envying the freedom of a mere bird.

“Pretty!” her son exclaimed. His cry of glee called her back to reality. She would appreciate these moments while they lasted, while he was still innocent.  
  
Quite a lot was going on inside Asterion’s mind at that moment. He had enjoyed watching the birds fly for it was a very pretty sight indeed. But he didn’t understand where they were coming from. He had never seen birds like that before in the garden, or in the house. So… there must have been something beyond the wall! Some place where there was a lot of birds! Probably some very big, with a lot of bright colors too. Mommy had called them seegles. Or something like that. She said they were coming from the sea. He didn’t know what the sea was. So mommy had taken a book out that had a lot of pretty pictures. She had told him that the sea was like the pond in the garden—the one with the fish in it, but way bigger and the water was salty! It was so big you could not see the end! It seemed quite interesting to him, and he really wanted to see it. But his mom had just looked at him with a sad smile before closing the book. He didn’t like seeing his mommy sad. She had then gone back to her room to put the book back on its shelf before they left for the kitchens to get him breakfast. Since he was now a big boy he was even allowed to eat his pancakes on his own! He was very busy thinking about the seegles. Seegoles. Seagulls? Whatever. He was very busy thinking about them so he didn’t notice the big mess he was making with the syrup. His mom didn’t seem to pay attention to it either, she was looking outside with a cup of tea in her hands. She suddenly turned her head in his direction.

“Asterion! Look what you did!” His hands were now covered in a sticky mess of syrup, saliva and tiny bits of pancakes. Pasiphaë stood up to go fetch a paper towel.

“’m sorry...” Asterion whispered looking upset.

“It’s okay love we’re just going to give you a bath.” she tried to reassure him.

“In the sea?!” he asked getting excited.

“Haha, no dear I’m sorry but it’s not possible. Your regular bathroom will have to do. Does it suit your highness’ tastes?” she said with a pompous tone in her voice. Asterion dissolved in happy giggles, the sea forgotten.

They were walking back to his bedroom to get him cleaned up, his mommy carrying him in her arms. She said it was to avoid him putting his sticky fingers on the walls. He was just happy that he didn’t have to walk. He was talking to his mom about the birds and their importance to the kingdom—that was how Asterion called the palace, but she didn’t seem to really understand what he was talking about. Silly grown-ups. Mommy was singing to him with her lovely voice, some song about children and flowers. He couldn’t take it any longer. He asked her why he couldn’t go to the sea, to touch the sand and watch the birds fly. Once again his mom just looked at him sadly and softly resumed her singing. Asterion began to feel annoyed, he liked to listen to his mommy singing to him, but he also wanted to know. He didn’t understand why he wasn’t allowed to go beyond the walls. He had never questioned it before because there was plenty to see in the gardens. But surely if such pretty birds were to be found outside he had to go!

 

He was sulking in his bath, trying very hard to stop thinking about the importance of the sea when his mommy started to speak.

“You can’t go to the sea, because you can’t go outside the kingdom. You see the kingdom is just our home. It is a very big home—it is called a palace, but the whole world is bigger. Way, way, bigger.” Asterion wanted to tell her that he knew that, he saw the people coming in from the huge front door; and he sometimes even saw houses and people from outside while the door was open. He spent a lot of time at his window, watching, when he was supposed to take a nap. He really wanted to tell her that, but he also didn’t want to interrupt his mom. Who knows, maybe she would even stop talking! So he stayed quiet, listening to her story. “Outside the walls that are around the garden there are other houses, and streets and shops. That is called a city, and ours is named Heraklion. And Heraklion is big. But it is a part of something even bigger, called an island.” And she went on and on trying to explain to him how big the world was. She had taken another book from her bookshelves. Asterion was getting kind of bored. It was all really interesting, but he didn’t care about that, he just wanted to know why he couldn’t go see the sea. He began to drone out when something his mommy said renewed his interest. “So you see there is a lot of people out there. People that are bad. And you are a very precious, very important little boy. And they would be mean to you. So we have to protect you, because we don’t want you to get hurt, you understand?”.

After that Asterion stopped asking to go out. He didn’t want to see mean people.

 

 

***

 

 

But as the years went by, Asterion quickly realized that his mom had been wrong. The mean people she was talking about were also inside the castle, and not just outside. The maids who wouldn’t talk to him or even look in his direction weren’t shy, they were actually scared of him. Him! A little kid! That didn’t seem to make any sense to him, so he had looked in the mirror very hard to try and figure out what was so scary about him but found nothing. The guards also said mean stuff, they said once that he was the ugliest thing they had ever seen and that they wouldn’t be surprised if he was the reason some persons were disappearing in town—like he could even leave this place, that was stupid. At the beginning they were talking about him behind his back or when they thought he couldn’t hear them—but he had good ears. One day Minos, the man who was supposed to be his father, surprised some of these guards when they were badmouthing his step-son. He didn’t even bat an eye. That was then that Asterion learned that he wasn’t even his father to begin with. For the first time he heard the name people had given him, the Minotaur, Minos’ bull, a monster. And Minos heard it all and said nothing; he just looked right through him, as if his mere presence was an inconvenience—and maybe he was, and then left the room. The guards took it as a sign of approval and soon enough everyone in the castle, bar his sweet mother, knew that there would be no consequence to their bullying. The servants even felt that it was their duty to make the beast feel as unwanted as he really was.  
He was 9 when a maid first spit on him. It was around that time that Pasiphaë fell ill, an unknown disease that left her weak and bed-ridden. Her illness puzzled the doctors who couldn’t seem to understand what was wrong in the first place and therefore couldn’t treat her efficiently. She could no longer accompany him in the garden or the kitchens, her son had to come in her rooms to see her.

 

“Asterion, sweetie, have you come for another lesson?” she asked him tiredly when he entered her bedroom. It was always a torture for him to ask so much from his mother but it was the only way he could ever learn anything since he didn’t have the right to enter the palace library. She had lost a lot of weight, she was so frail she looked like she was being swallowed by her duvet. Her once shiny black hair was now dull and matted, and there seemed to be a milky veil in her eyes that made her look unfocused. Asterion sometimes wondered if she could see at all or if she had also lost the ability.

“Yes mother, I hope I’m not disturbing your sleep” he answered softly.

“No dear, you could never disturb me.” she lightly caressed his cheekbone with the back of her hand when she felt him twitch under her touch. “What’s wrong are you hurt?”

“It’s nothing!” he quickly covered. “I was just playing ball against the wall and got distracted and the ball hit me in the face” The truth was that one of the cooks had caught him trying to steal some biscuits for his mom and had in turn hit him with a pan. Thank god the pan had not been sizzling hot and he managed to dodge most of the blow before he ran away. He dreaded ever crossing way again with the man.

“You ought to be more careful.” The smile on her face when she answered was so sweet that he immediately felt bad about lying to her. “Now, it’s too bad that your sister has left the city, she could have helped me with your teaching, but I guess it’s just the two of us huh?” And there was that smile again.

 

Asterion never said to his mother how badly he was treated by everyone else. She was isolated, and weak. There was nothing she could have done had she known, it would have only made her worry. Any kind of stress was dangerous to her health, the doctors had said. So the child put on his big boy pants, and lying became a part of his every day life. Anything to spare his mother. They only had each other left after all. While it was true that Ariadne had just left Heraklion, she was already a stranger to him by that time. His big sister had grown more and more weary of him, listening to the rumors instead of her mother—rumors that declared him to be a delinquent in the making, nothing but a monster, just like his father. Asterion didn’t even know who his father was, so how could he be like him? Why couldn’t anyone see he had never done anything wrong? Yes, sometimes he broke things or got angry at his mom, but every kid did that from time to time, no?

The little boy had been scared and confused for a very long time, but as his mother’s health was declining, his anger was growing. Resent and ideas of revenge started flourishing in his heart, a heart which should never have known those emotions at such a young age; and he wouldn’t have, had it not been for the treatment he received from those supposed to care for him, for his mother. She was his only light, the only reason he even put up with all this. Asterion had no true wish of dying, but neither did he have any hope that his condition would improve.

 

 

****

 

 

Pasiphaë was dead. His mother was dead. He had been about to see her, to regale her with the tale of another of his nocturnal adventures. She had been upset with him at first when she learned that he had left the palace, but she knew there was no reasoning him so she ended up grudgingly accepting it. Her son had grew up to be an opinionated young man, but he was smart, he never attempted going out before he was sure his plan was foolproof. Asterion had left through his window, climbing down the facade of the palace, he had then swiftly run in direction of the garden until he arrived to the wall which he had climbed. He knew when the change in guards was so the plan had not be hard to elaborate, he had just needed time to build stamina and gain the muscle mass and swiftness that would enable him to put it in action.

What he discovered when he arrived in Heraklion blew him away. Even though it was the night, there was still so much to see! There were bars booming with music and life, boys and girls his age having fun, laughs, shouts, singing, dogs barking. Some people were eyeing him distrustfully because his face was hidden in the shadows of his hoodie but he couldn’t risk people recognizing him. He didn’t stay long his first time, barely twenty minutes. It wouldn’t do for someone to realize he was missing he reasoned. He was also overwhelmed by all these sensations, he had never seen so many people at once, or heard sounds so loud, or even smell so many fragrances! Even though his first excursion was a short one, it still became a habit. He went out two times a week, three if he was lucky. And with time he grew bolder and bolder, he actually began talking with people. People who didn’t hate him on sight! A lot of them were still wary of him because they couldn’t see his face, but it was nothing compared to the pure loathing he was subjected to everyday. It was this way that he managed to learn who his father was. Apparently he was known as the Bull, a thug, right-handed man to Poseidon, the chief of the most violent gang in town; no one knew what his real name was but he was truly infamous. And that was why Asterion was treated the way he was, because the man who had raped his mother and sired him was the bane of the city. Because of his stature and his mysterious ways he had made acquaintances with the street-rats of Heraklion, the pickpockets, the little delinquents, the teenagers whom his mother would say were less fortunate than him. That was how he had ended up meeting one of Poseidon’s men, a guy who was still very low in ranking and so had time to introduce him to every part of the city. He understood the need for privacy and never pried.

His mother knew all that. She knew he had learned about his father, an information she wished he didn’t come upon. His mom was still willing to accept this “rebellious stage” he was going through as she called it, and so aptly listened to his tales, learning things about her city that she never could have known—high society girl that she had been before marrying. His mom who was now dead, or so the doctor who had been in her room had said, and nowhere in sight.

 

“Where is my mother?” he asked his temper growing short.

“I don’t answer to you. Leave.” the closest guard had answered, without a look in his direction. Asterion punched him, knocking him over.

“You will give me a satisfying answer you fucker! Where is she? Tell me! I’m the only one who deserve to see her!” he was half crying half shouting in the face of the man in front of him. Another man entered the room, his expression as cold as ever.

“I knew I shouldn’t have listened to Pasiphaë. We wouldn’t have had so much trouble if we had disposed of you when you were a mere baby.” Minos smoothly articulated. He looked down to where Asterion was kneeling on the floor, the front of the guard’s shirt in his fists. “Restrain him”. Three other guards entered the room guns pointed to his head. “Take him to his room, we’ll move him tomorrow morning. I want a constant guard in front of his door at anytime.” Minos gave his orders then left. Asterion let himself be led to his room, completely powerless. He knew that he could do nothing for now.

 

As soon as they arrived to his room his escort threw his door open, dropped him on the ground without ceremony and closed the door behind them. He could hear them settling in the hallway, laughing at his misery. Asterion didn’t even allow himself a few minutes to grieve. Grief and sadness would come later. As of now he had to escape before he was put behind bards, or worse, to death. Pasiphaë had after all been the only reason Minos had let him be, she must have bargained with him after his birth. A quick gaze in the gardens assured him that there was no one there. His step-father must have ordered every one to guard the inside of the palace, not imagining that he could very well leave by his window—his room was after all on the fourth story of the building. The fool. Asterion didn’t even have to think about it, he just had to do what he did every other night. But this time it was forever. He took the locket his mother had given him on his third birthday—a picture of them safely ensconced inside of it, and he left. The run through the garden and the climbing of the wall had never been so full of meaning before. He cast a last look to the palace before he jumped. He began walking through the now familiar streets, until he reached his usual spot. There he met his acquaintance from Poseidon’s group. He made sure they were alone before he showed him his face. Asterion saw that the man in front of him instantly recognized him.

 

“Take me to the Bull.” he told him. It was a monster they wanted. Then a monster they were gonna get.

 

 

 


End file.
